1906 World Series
The 1906 World Series featured a crosstown matchup between the Chicago Cubs, who had posted the highest regular-season win total (116) and winning percentage in major league history, and the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox, known as the "Hitless Wonders" after finishing with the worst team batting average (.230) in the American League, beat the Cubs in six games for one of the greatest upsets in Series history. Managers: Fielder Jones (White Sox), Frank Chance (Cubs) Umpires: Jim Johnstone (NL), Silk O'Loughlin (AL) Summary AL Chicago White Sox (4) vs NL Chicago Cubs (2) Matchups Game 1 October 9: West Side Park, Chicago, Illinois Cubs hurler Mordecai Brown was sent to continue the dominance against Nick Altrock. Both pitchers pitched a perfect game through three innings. The Cubs had a runner at second, but couldn't score in the 4th. In the top of the 5th, George Rohe tripled to lead off, then scored on an error to homeplate when Patsy Dougherty reached on a fielder's choice. In the 6th, the White Sox sought the add another run. Nick Altrock walked, then was sacrificed to second base by Ed Hahn. When Fielder Jones singled to centerfield, Altrock was thrown out at home, but Jones moved to second on the throw. When Cubs catcher Johnny Kling allowed a passed ball, Jones moved to third. Frank Isbell singled to make a 2-0 White Sox lead. In the bottom half, the Cubs struck back. Kling walked and Brown singled, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. After Solly Hofman moved the runners to second and third on a sacrifice bunt, Altrock threw a wild pitch, allowing Kling to score and Brown to go to third. With one out and a man at third, Altrock pitched with no margin for error. He got Jimmy Sheckard to pop out and Frank Schulte to ground out to end the threat. For the rest of the game Altrock pitched beautifully, allowing only one more Cub to reach second base. The lead would stand as the White Sox won Game One 2 to 1. Game 2 October 10: South Side Park, Chicago, Illinois Cubs pitcher Ed Reulbach was called upon to stem the tide against White Sox hurler Doc White. After each pitcher had a 1-2-3 first inning, things started to fall apart for White. After Frank Chance struck out to lead off, Harry Steinfeldt singled to left. Joe Tinker followed with a bunt single. Johnny Evers would then reach on an error by second baseman Frank Isbell, which also allowed Steinfeldt to score (unearned) and move Tinker and Evers to second and third. Johnny Kling was then intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Ed Reulbach was out on a sacrifice bunt which scored Tinker (unearned) and moved Evers to third and Kling to second. Solly Hofman then followed with a single to shortstop Lee Tannehill that scored Evers (unearned), but, when he tried to score, Kling was out at home, ending the threat. The Cubs added another unearned run in the 3rd, ending Doc White's night. Despite giving up four runs, none of them were earned. The White Sox were able to get on the board on the 5th with an unearned run thanks to a wild pitch and an error. The Cubs would score three more runs, all of them earned, in the 6th and 8th innings to take Game 2 by a score of 7 to 1 and tie the Series at one game a piece. Game 3 October 11: West Side Park, Chicago, Illinois Game 4 October 12: South Side Park, Chicago, Illinois Game 5 October 13: West Side Park, Chicago, Illinois Game 6 October 14: South Side Park, Chicago, Illinois Trivia *It was the first appearance in the World Series for both teams, and the first of three in a row for the Cubs. It was the first "Subway Series" with 2 teams from the same city and the only one to happen in Chicago. Amazingly, this was the last World Series to date to feature two franchises that had never before appeared in the Series. The White Sox would not reappear in the World Series until the 1917 World Series. *It was the first World Series appearance for the Cubs' famous infield trio of Joe Tinker (shortstop), Johnny Evers (second base), and Frank Chance (first base). The trio hit a combined 9-for-59 in the series. Two future Hall of Fame pitchers also appeared: Mordecai Brown for the Cubs and Ed Walsh for the White Sox. Sadly, this legendary pair never pitched against each other in any game of the series. Neither of them pitched the best game of the series. Instead, that honor went to the Cubs' 23-year-old Ed Reulbach, who pitched the first one-hitter in World Series history in Game 2. *The first five games of the Series were won by the road team. This was duplicated exactly 90 years later in the 1996 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves. *Doc White recorded the first ever World Series save in Game 5, although saves were not recognized as an official statistic until 1969. *This was the first series with a surprise star, an obscure player who for a brief time became a star. In this case it was third baseman George Rohe who batted .348 and drove in 9 runs in the six games. He had a rather nondescript career before and since and was out of the game by 1908. He originally entered the lineup as a substitute for Hall of Fame shortstop George Davis. *Games 1 and 2 were played amid snow flurries in Chicago. This would not happen again in a World Series until 1997. External links * 1906 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com * [http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws_recaps.jsp?feature=1906 1906 World Series at WorldSeries.com (MLB.com)] * 1906 World Series at Baseball-Almanac.com * 1906 World Series box scores and play-by-play at Retrosheet.org World Series Category:1906 Chicago White Sox World Series Championship Team Category:World Series 1906 1906 Category:Postseason series Category:Inner-city World Series Category:1900s